On this day in 2011, I can be seen playing chess in a top I brought in Japan whilst on holiday, and some cap bought somewhere in Bangkok, probably MBK, in the quality facebook video below: I wasn’t even a father then -my how the time has flown!
Regarding the game per se, I have no recollection of it whatsoever but I can tell you that my opponent is Thotsaporn Thanatipanonda, who I have been friends with for many years. He’s usually rated between 2100-2200, and I have seen him beat strong titled players before including a strong Israeli IM once with his pet line in the French Winawer (Boguljubow variation). Thotsaporn, or Aek, now Lecturer in Mathematics at Mahidol University where he does research, would normally win our games. Chess enthusiasts may note that the very talkative Irish FM Colm Daly appears playing in the video also.
If you can make it as far as the 1.50 mark, you shall see that I don’t look too happy with my position as it is rather lost! I do have to say though that I like this video very much, as this is the most expressive I have ever seen myself over the board!
I decided to spend a day or two there. It was truly wonderful. Here are the pics and videos.
The car that took me there.Me with GM Niaz MushedIn the golf cart thing that took me to the playing hall.The entranceMe and Neww Jong from Thailand, main organizer there.Me and IM Prins from ThailandThe Thai chess teamPeople playing chessMoiPrins analyzing his game after it had finished.Some mascotMe and GM Wesley SoSahipol, president of the Thai chess federation.
Video 1
I took a taxi to go to Samarkand, which took about 5 and a half hours, We stopped off a few times. Heres one clip.
Video 2
Taxis werent allowed to take you right up to the venue so some shuttle bus/golf cart thing did instead.
Video 3
Requiring a wristband.
Video 4
The Thai Chess Team
Video 5
The hall that felt like home. It was a hive of activity.
Video 6
This I found fascinating.
Video 7
The Thai Chess team just before round 10 starts. There’s more robot fun also.
Video 8
This I enjoyed seeing.
Video 9
Round 10. Long video which shows many of the world’s best players after about 3 mins 20 secs.
Video 10
The Kuwait team. I played much chess there.
Video 11
You can see many top players in this video. Interesting viewing. That”s GM Rapport and GM Leko in the thumbnail there.
Video 12
Yet more top players here, especially from the India team.
Video 13
I am having a nice time.
Video 14
I spent nearly 7 hours walking around that day and got tired a few times. So in this video I am sitting down and recovering.
Video 15
GM Peter Svidler in the distance. I didn’t want to disturb him.
Video 16
Autograph time for the kids and a little wander around.
Video 17
GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov and much security.
Video 18
On the shuttle bus after much walking around.
Video 19
A walk around Samarkand before play began on the final day.
Video 20
He was very polite to me when I asked for a picture.
When I lived in Kuwait in 2008, I found online and befriended a certain Khalid Hashem, who introduced me to the chess scene there, and I would not stop playing. I entered many tournaments and won prizes in one of them. I have fond memories of that tournament and always remember I kept playing the Stonewall Attack as white, and the French Defence against 1. e4 and the Dutch defence against 1. d4. If you go to the 1.55 mark in the video linked below, you can see me tripping over a chair before, shaking many hands having my photo taken and collecting my prize.
I had a very pleasant evening in the town centre last night and am happy I made a flying visit to the chess club. Tomorrow the chess continues. I will be taking the bus to Leighton Buzzard to meet FM Gary Kenworthy at The Swan Hotel. He will be bringing along scoreesheets to some of his greatest games, including his win against GM Adams, who I did not do very well against last month. The plan is to catch up as well and talk about mutual friends, of which we have many. Should be a pleasant day but it does seem that on those rare opportunities when I do come home, chess does so often take centre stage but then what else is there to do? Should I rename this post to ‘Confessions of a chess addict’.
I say: this post does nothing to undermine, challenge, or attack the conservativism chess is oh-so proud of and is not ungentlemanly in parts.
Webmaster’s comments
Is that so?
Words of advice -words of warning
Take it from me old old chap -you shouldn’t go somewhere just to play chess, you should do other things as well. In Bangkok I used to cycle into the city to the chess club then across it to all night rock parties after I was done playing blitz -that’s the spirit!
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We love our McCready
Paragraph of doom
Being back in my home town briefly, I couldn’t take the bus in just to play a bit of chess, could I? Why’s that? Well it doesn’t exactly make for a great night out does it? And my home town is a bit bloody depressing to say the least…I don’t want to say the name of it! Anyway, I thought, true to form, I would liven things up a bit instead. We do have videos and pics below.
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I’m not sure I want to see these.
Disclaimer
These pre-chess club visit videos do not portray chess in a negative light and are not critical of it in places.
Webmaster’s comments
U wot?
Video 1
Walk towards the casino to play roulette.
Shot of the casino from the entrance, I wasn’t allowed to take pictures in there.
Video 2
The White House Luton -the best pub in town. I will turn up at the chess club tipsy but that’s okay. It’s not the first time. In Bangkok I used to do that all the time!
Webmaster’s comments
What the blazes is this all about?
Video 3
Chit chat, most noteably about players from Luton who play at the British.
Video 4
The hour at the club and how it went.
Video 5
The loss of knowing what to do after the chess club.
The pictures that say more than 1000 words…
He plays in the A team and has had many stunning victories over the board. It is he who I played and won quickly. We have been team mates and friends for decades.This is Peter Montgomery the club president. He beat me in the final of the Luton Chess Club Championship in 1993, and is also responsible for making me copy his openings. Lifelong friend. The number of matches we have travelled together cannot be counted.This is a picture from my only game. As you can see, Rh4 cannot be stopped without the loss of a piece, and so he resigned.My beloved friend Michael Josephs. Since 92 we played together and played in the county championships always. When I became B team captain, he was my board number 3 (I was board number 2). We’ve always got on like a house on fire. Michael loves to play the Kings Indian Attack and has beaten the very best in the county with it -he was super happy to see me again, and I was super happy to see him again. He is loving his chess again after many years of health difficulties.
The aftermath
Webmaster’s comments
I am reluctant to read this. Many chess players in England want him dead and he knows it!
I had to walk back into town not knowing what to think or what to do. I wasn’t expecting to be caught out by a strong sense of belonging and identity. I was somewhat preoccupied with turning up and being beaten over the board due to being so out of practice. So I went back to the pub to drink more alcohol and forget about it all, or at least try to put it into perspective before I fly off to central Asia in a few days. I don’t know when I will be back but it won’t be for a long time I expect.
What do we do with a hot summer Sunday in south London? Laze around in Greenwich with little to do or go down to Trafalgar Square and enjoy the company of friends and the Chessfest?
I went to it 3 years ago and was suitably impressed; Trafalgar Square is a part of London I have grown to love as the national gallery is there, and I have much time for that place, and when the chessfest rolls into town it has even more to offer. The hatched plan was to meet friend and 2100 player Mark Ruston, then play against GM Adams in a simul and this I did. I was not deterred from GM Adams being the greatest English chess player of all time! But it must be said, I have only played competitive chess once in 10 years and I don’t play online anymore, so I didn’t perform too well against both of the aforementioned…in fact it was pretty bad! Thankfully, it still remained pleasant all round despite the blazing sun and my less than impressive performances. Mark said I should blame it on the sun. Well it was 30C today and I had to leave by 3.30pm because I was already sunburnt. I saw GM Speelman, GM Adams, GM Sadler, IM Pein, GM Royal, IM Martin, and WIM Bodhana. I spoke to GM Adams, GM Sadler, GM Speelman, and IM Martin. I am happy to say, the most courteous and nicest to talk to was GM Adams. Below are pictures from the position in my game, it was a French Defence by transposition. The last picture shows writing aids 🙂
Chessfest 1: quick scan of the scene including position for my game against Mark.
Video Chessfest 2 shows GM Speelman and GM Sadler.
WIM Bodhana and great celebrations.
Chessfest 4 GM Salder teaches chess to kids
Chessfest 4: me against GM Adams. Yes that is grey haired me wondering what to do.
Chessfest 5: video full of misery and sunburn -discretionary viewing advised
On this day thirty-eight years ago, I played a Grandmaster for the first, but not the last, time. It was a simul yes. I was black, the opening was the Ruy Lopez closed, Chigorin variation. I was outplayed in the middlegame and lost. He did have a 100% record against the then current world champion Garry Kasparov, so it’s hardly surprising. He also wrote a critically acclaimed and very thorough book on the Ruy Lopez about a year before also.
…on what this site initially became…on what this site is now becoming…on what this site cannot become…
On what this site initially became…
…once upon a time, the chess-related musings of an adrift academic were bound playfully and electronically in this online journal of sorts. They grew and grew as the decade did too. I kept on because I love to write whether I had much to say or not; therefore, being read by others was usually of little or no importance, comparatively speaking. Content was based on personal thoughts and experience on various topics with no intended audience borne in mind. With topics broadening, my own take on things always shaped the narrative I constructed: I often thought I was insightful but never that I was right. Sometimes imagination gave rise to originality: and of that I have always remained proud. I often introduced humour, believing that I am funnier than I really am. Sometimes, I found my own style antithetical to the conservatism I believe chess is plagued by -oftentimes that has put a gracious smile on my face… .
On what this site is now becoming…
…this site is now becoming a collaboration of chess in Bedfordshire: much more so of the past than the present -that has become the dominant trend. I document the history of chess in Bedfordshire as much as I can, and as time has passed I have become more thorough and resourceful. However, I am not a trained historian as my background lies principally in philosophy but yes it is true I did study some modules on history as both an undergraduate and a post-graduate too; furthermore, I have trained myself up, particularly in terms of postmodern history. Since 2015, I have only read history and historiography as well as those philosophers who have been so influential on postmodern history, such as Nietzsche (whom I once wrote a 19,000 word dissertation on, entitled: Can the Will to Power be Found in The Birth of Tragedy?), also Richard Rorty and Foucault and I suppose certain structualists such as Claude Levi-Strauss too. Regarding postmodernism, mostly I keep to Hayden White, Keith Jenkins and Alan Muslow.
Some friends and former playing partners back home describe me as the ‘go to guy’ for the history of chess in Bedfordshire. This compliment says more about the lack of interest in the subject than my own endeavour. As mentioned, I am too adrift from academia to feel chuffed by it. Rather, I tend to lament that my historical research, like my chess, just isn’t what it should be. Even though I may well have a broad understanding of Bedfordshire chess history courtesy of the volume of research put into it, all of which began in 2014, this is not something I am particularly proud of. Nonetheless, out of courtesy compliments are graciously received. If the truth be told, I just see it as my job and only that – after all someone’s got to do it and no one else is that interested!
Amongst the many others, I have created three categories: ‘Bedfordshire Chess’ and ‘History of Bedfordshire Chess’ and ‘Luton Chess Club’. This website is slowly moving towards a consolidation of those (all of which can be found in one of the toolbars to the right).
On what this site cannot become…
…I like to be both creative and amusing when I can be, factor in that playfulness has been an ever-present factor, the content of this site should be thought of as multifarious. It could be said I continue to enjoy undermining the conservatism I believe chess is underpinned by even after all these years, and often try to use humour to do it still, believing I have got better at it. Consequently, despite the general direction its going in, this site cannot only be about Chess in Bedfordshire and nor will it be. It may become noted for that yes -in fact that’s been the case for years already even by established historians, archivists, and whoever else. External factors aside, this site is titled McCreadyandChess. I cannot, nor will I not, remove my own personal thoughts and experiences of chess from the posts of this site -especially if I think they are funny or original for they constitute my writing at its very, very best. In addition, the number of categories alone tells you that breadth of content is important to me. I am proud of my site, it is identity conferring and that is how it shall stay -end of story. All you really have are: ‘Some thoughts on the beautiful game’, which, incidentally, just happen to be my very own; nothing more, nothing less, take of it whatever you please… .
A side note on how to read old Tom Sweby's columns
Not perhaps, but quintessentially, Old Tom Sweby is best thought of as a passionate devotee to the newspapers he wrote for. He was well read and knowledgeable of the Bedfordshire chess scene and well beyond, given that he was the president of the S.C.C.U. once upon a time. He was generally well-respected and rubbed shoulders with many, if not all, of those eminent within British chess circles. It would, however, be a critical mistake to see his column is primary source material entirely. That it is not. You will also find secondary source material quoted too, and the reliability of that is not quite as Tom hoped. Given that he wrote for decades, this is to some degree inevitable, and after all we are all prone to error whether we realize it or not. Thankfully, with regards to old Tom Sweby, they are infrequent and for the most part old Tom continued to document events and developments in the Bedfordshire league from the get go as best he could but, of course, everything lies open to interpretation. Despite this, and generally speaking. this does indeed make him informative and thus worth reading. Dare I say his columns constitute a narrative describing the latest developments, match reports and changing nature of the Beds league...he knew his audience and wrote according. This manifested itself over decades but brevity was always in play courtesy of the restictions imposed by writing a column. Should you wish to read a in instrumental figure of the Beds' league post WW2, you are quite welcome to peruse what has been posted here... . :-) I should, however, point out that as the decades wore on he gradually moved on away from narratives concerning the Bedfordshire league towards affairs both historical and international. The reasons for this are multifarous, old age was a predominante factor presumably, however, the bottom line is with regards to how the Bedfordshire chess scene developed post WW2: old Tom Sweby is your go to guy. He wrote more about chess in Bedforshire than anyone else did but given he was a Lutonian and writing for a Luton newspaper there is both bias and greater coverage of his hometown than the rest of the county.
Gallery
I’m either 10 or 11 here
1982, myself versus Brian from Sunderland.
At the Thai Junior chess championships. My daughter of course.
Pattaya 2011
2011
Thai Junior Championships
2008
2011
Around 2011
2011
Pattaya 2009
2011
Kuwait 2008
2012
2012
2011 BKK Chess club
2011
2011 Thai Open
2011 Thai Open
2013 approx
Around 2014
2010
2012
Around 2011
2011
2011
2013
Around 2011
Around 2011
2020
2011
2008
2011
2013 or thereabouts
2010
2017
2014?
2010
2024
2024
2024
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